Samenvatting

Business owners seem to recover. 52% of the business owners can pay their bills on time and 60% have enough financial resources to continue their business. Business investments are rising and the number of business owners having a lower renumeration than in 2019 are diminishing.The number of business owners earning less than remuneration welfare allowances is strongly decreasing. Other signs of recovery are the increase of staff employment in Q4 2021, except for Aruba. And Business Confidence further rises for Q1 2022. Not only in sales, but also in timely payments. Yet there is a definite need for additional capital for 40% of all businesses to continue the uplift. Especially so for business owners on Curaçao. Overall start-ups and self-employed are as steady going as established enterprises and business with employees. Yet start-ups and self-employed have lower sales, lower levels of entrepreneurial remunerations, but employ more new staff members in Q4. Businesses in B2B largely outperform B2C and mixed B2C/B2B business models in sales and entrepreneurial remuneration. The island of Aruba deviates from the (is)lands of Bonaire and Curacao in Q4 2021. Businesses on Aruba seem more mature with less start-ups, more employees, more likely to be family businesses and have higher scores on provided annual reports. Entrepreneurial remuneration is also highest on Aruba. Yet growth of employment is negative. On all (is)lands business owners endure above average stress levels, with a quarter of them at extreme levels. This indicates the major uncertainties business owners are facing.